The Online ‘Alt-Right’ Wants to Influence France’s Electorate, But Will Its Meme Wars Work?

Smears, Twitter “raids”, and memes targeting Emmanuel Macron have been part of campaigns across a number of online platforms by supporters of France’s far-right presidential candidate, Marine Le Pen. The memes range from policy-based attacks, to those on Macron’s character, including, in recent days, claims dismissed by Macron’s camp linking him to an offshore company. As France prepares to go to the polls, Storyful’s Padraic Ryan and Ben Decker analyse the tactics that are being used by Le Pen-supporting online activists.

To take one example, Twitter was bombarded with a variety of pro-Marine Le Pen and anti-Emmanuel Macron memes from 6 pm French time on April 29. Seemingly spontaneously, a group of users posted images supporting Le Pen and attacking Macron using hashtags already widely in circulation in the French presidential campaign.

This flurry of memes was an organized “raid,” where a group of users seek to hijack hashtags to get a message across; it was announced on the platform the day before by a user called @ArmyofKek and coordinated from a closed server on the Discord chat app. On this server, which was known as “Operation: Marine Le Kek”, Discord users discussed tactics, were provided with meme banks, and were able to ask for assistance in amplifying their message. (See images below; click to enlarge.)

News of the raid was also mentioned on several threads on French gaming chat site JeuxVideo.com, which is roughly equivalent to the more widely known 4chan; one of the JeuxVideo threads linked directly to the Discord server.

This was one of numerous attempts throughout the second-round campaign by far-right and alt-right activists and sympathizers to influence the social media conversation in favor of Le Pen, and against Macron. The activists are based in countries across the world and often draw from the same well of tactics as used in elections elsewhere, such as the US presidential election.

Thanking the ‘patriosphere’

Indeed, in a video published on April 24, Le Pen singled out for thanks internet activists of the “patriosphere,” the self-styled group of online “patriots” who had supported her in her bid to become president, highlighting the extent to which the online meme battles have become part of the political conversation. Throughout the election, Storyful found evidence of coordinated efforts across closed and public platforms to target Macron and generate support Le Pen.

Macron was targeted using a number of key themes, including some straightforward political attacks, highlighting his ties to finance, particularly Rothschild’s bank and alleged offshore accounts, and his tolerant attitude towards Islam. There have also been more serious attempts to spread smears and falsehoods against Macron, with one campaign in particular aimed at spreading the rumor that he had “engaged in improper conduct” with his step-daughter, and another falsely claiming he had immediately washed his hands after meeting with striking workers at a Whirlpool plant in Amiens. The goal for all the campaigns is simple: to weaken Macron’s position, while strengthening Le Pen’s.

All these discussions have been taking place outside the traditional media; indeed, perhaps learning from the US election, French media have engaged in a number of initiatives to attempt to quash and debunk falsehoods, with France 24’s Observers unit, and the collaborative Crosscheck France campaign, both highlighting and debunking falsehoods as they arise.

The efforts of the media, however, have failed to stem the attempts by online activists to influence the social discourse around the campaign.

A highly organized campaign

One of the most highly organized campaigns centered around the attempt to spread a falsehood that Macron “had engaged, or tried to engage in improper conduct with” Tiphaine Auziere, a daughter of his wife from her first marriage. The tactics were clear: a plan was hatched on a number of other 4chan threads, here and here, with a view to it being publicized to damage Macron.

“Wouldn’t it be funny if it got out that Macron had engaged, or tried to engage in improper conduct with the young (arguably) hot daughter of his strong semi-senile wife in the past,” says the original poster.

The same poster on this thread made explicit mention of a previous online rumor that Macron was gay, which the candidate was forced to comment upon in February. Russian media outlet Sputnik had reported comments from Nicolas Dhuicq, a member of France’s right-wing Les Républicains party, in which he said Macron was backed by “a very wealthy gay lobby.”

“There have already been allegations about Macron being a closeted homosexual so the idea that he is a sexual pervert is already planted in the peoples’ [sic] heads,” the poster wrote. “People might buy it and that would taint him into oblivion.”

Evidently, these campaigns are not hatched in a vacuum: activists are aware of the news agenda happening outside 4chan threads, and are explicitly hoping to influence this agenda.

In the earlier of two threads proposing this campaign, a crudely assembled combination of two pictures was used for the original post. By the time the later thread was started, the original post featured an image with text, including specific allegations and purported quotation about Macron groping and kissing Auziere. The affair allegation was also tied in with another claim designed to damage Macron: that he is the candidate of “big bank backers.”

Those on the thread and responding to the proposed smear campaign elsewhere were not uniformly in favor of it, even where they evidently were opposed to Macron. One respondent said, “There are enough undesirable truths about him that you’ve got to be a moron to spread lies. Lies backfire, truth sticks.” On Twitter, Sargon of Akkad, a British YouTube commenter whose instructional video on how to target Macron proved influential, expressed similar sentiments (see below left; click to enlarge).

A number of users attempted to propagate the message on Twitter, though they were challenged on the veracity of the claims (see screenshot above right, for instance).

The attempted campaign was reported on by a number of news outlets, including Buzzfeed News and Mamania. Mamania’s tweet may have caused some confusion, though the site’s story was clearly about the 4chan thread and not the substance of the rumor. Gala and FranceTVInfo also covered the attempted campaign, making clear the substance of the rumor was unfounded. This attempted smear did not appear to make it into the mainstream news agenda, but it was one of a number of campaigns wherein attempts to influence the direction of the French election were hatched on one platform with a view to their being propagated on another.

‘Macron Antoinette’

One campaign that did achieve a degree of success across platforms was that depicting Macron as an aristocratic, Marie Antoinette-like figure. Tying into the theme that Macron is an elitist, this meme is linked to a video and posts on Twitter and Facebook from Sargon of Akkad, the YouTuber mentioned above. In the video, Sargon of Akkad gives advice on themes to use to attack Macron, including the suggestion that Macron should be depicted as an aristocratic figure. The video was viewed over 100,000 times, and was mentioned in a number of threads on 4chan, and on posts on other platforms.

The Sargon of Akkad videos show the multi-directional nature of the information dissemination. In this case, a video posted on a public network, YouTube, is used on 4chan and Discord as part of a campaign aimed at encouraging activists to produce memes to influence discussion on public platforms.

‘We must bombard’

Examining one 4chan thread (see below) Storyful found links to videos apparently designed to rouse and advise activists, and guidance on what kinds of posts would be useful in targeting Macron. The original poster explicitly exhorts activists to spread the word to public platforms, saying, “Fire up your Twitter accounts.”

In another thread, the tactics are laid bare: “We must bombard French social media with pro Le Pen propaganda, to remind the French who is on their side,” says the original poster. (Click images below to enlarge.)

On some of the threads, posters appealed for help in targeting Macron; in others, advice was offered. Users sometimes discussed, in English, which themes might be most effective in influencing a French audience.

Several of the memes posted featured conspiracy theories, with references to a global elite, including businessman George Soros, conspiring against Le Pen. Macron was depicted as the candidate of this global elite.

The original post on this thread also links to this meme bank (see below), where activists can find materials with which to target Macron.

Platform interaction

The interaction between 4chan, chat app Discord, and public platforms such as Twitter and Facebook plays a key role in the campaigns. In this pro-Le Pen 4chan thread, one user posted a link (screenshot included below) to a Discord server, where the 4Chan user suggested tactical coordination for the social media campaign to take place. The Discord server, United Patriots for Le Pen, mirrors Le Taverne des Patriotes, a widely reported upon precursor, and was started by “mermayhem” (see below right), the same user who also posted in the Operation: Marine Le Kek server.

An account with the same name on Twitter would be unlikely to raise many eyebrows given its 230 followers, and the user bio reads like that of a typical alt-right Trump supporter. Claiming Florida as the user’s home, the bio reads, “Aspiring animator, Very amateur voice actor, Wannabe cartoon pundit, air-head extrodinare [sic] #MAGA #Trump2016.”

Since this server began on April 25, strategies have been considered regarding meme campaigns. One user proposes contacting people on other platforms such as Reddit to “grow the userbase,” another asks for the #EnMarcheArriere hashtag to be amplified. At least one user, Lordkek (Senator/Covert-Ops), bemoaned the lack of a story such as the #PizzaGate conspiracy theory, which attracted a great deal of attention during the US presidential election, eventually leading to a shooting incident at a Washington restaurant. Members provide practical advice, and discuss what might be done: user strangefour5 included a pdf featuring locations where people can “shitpost” to spread their messages.

On Discord, as with 4chan, the drive to support Le Pen and target her opponents comprised advice, discussion, the supply of online tools, and a large degree of awareness about previous misinformation campaigns.

Curtailed influence?

Despite all this activity, there are a number of reasons to believe their influence may be curtailed relative to similar efforts ahead of the US elections.

Research on Twitter behavior conducted by academics at Oxford University suggests French people are more likely to share reliable information than Americans. Efforts by social media platforms, including a recent announcement by Facebook that it had deleted 30,000 fake account in France, may also be playing a part.

A project undertaken by a range of news organizations, CrossCheck, to which Storyful contributed, also played a role, factchecking and debunking dubious stories throughout the campaign. Increasing sophistication amongst journalists about the role platforms such as 4chan and Discord in the spread of misinformation also plays a role: for instance, Buzzfeed’s Ryan Broderick spotted the proposed campaign related to Macron and his stepdaughter as it originated on 4chan; Broderick’s prompt report would have reduced the likelihood of the story getting legs.

What is now clear is that campaigns of this nature are becoming a standard part of politics and elections across the world. In the final days before the election, the “internautes” Le Pen thanked have not given up the fight to help her to the Elysee Palace, as evidenced by the latest claims around Macron’s alleged offshore financial dealings. These claims have followed a similar pattern of formulation and distribution as described here, and have been discussed in mainstream media, including by leading newspapers such as Le Monde.

At Storyful, our journalists are working hand-in-hand with our team of developers to build tools that can systematically map and visualize these networks of activists. Our goal is not to tackle the information after it goes viral, but, working with our news partners, to identify the sources of these campaigns, debunk any misinformation, and better understand this new aspect of democratic discourse.